††††† As amended by the committee,
this bill provides adult adopted persons and certain other individuals with the
opportunity to obtain an adopted person's original birth certificate and other
related documents, with certain restrictions to protect birth parentsí privacy.

††††† Specifically, the bill amends
current law to allow the following persons, 18 years of age or older, to obtain
access to an uncertified, long-form copy of an adopted person's original birth
certificate, upon request to the State Registrar:† 1) the adopted person; 2) a
direct descendant, sibling, or spouse of the adopted person; 3) the adoptive
parent, legal guardian, or other legal representative of the adopted person; or
4) a State or federal agency.† Under current law, the only way to obtain an
adopted personís original birth certificate is by court order.

††††† The amended bill eliminates
language in existing law that previously authorized a court to replace the
adopteeís place of birth on the birth certificate with that of the adopting
parentsí residence.† As amended, therefore, the bill generally requires the
birth certificate to identify the adopteeís actual place of birth.† However, in
the case of a foundling, the bill requires the court to designate the date and
place of birth.† The bill, as amended, also updates references to birth
certificates involving foreign adoptions, and directs local registrars of vital
statistics to forward the original certificate of birth to the State Registrar
when a new one is made.

††††† The bill provides an
opportunity for the birth parent of an adopted person to indicate a preference
concerning contact with the adopted person, by filing with the State Registrar
a document indicating whether the parent prefers direct contact with the
adopted person, contact through the use of an intermediary, or no contact. The
birth parent may change this preference at any time by submitting a revised
document of contact preference to the State Registrar.

††††† Pursuant to the amended
billís provisions, a birth parent who submits a document of contact preference
to the State Registrar must additionally submit family history information,
including medical, cultural, and social history.† A birth parent who prefers no
contact will be encouraged to update their family history information every 10
years until the birth parent reaches the age of 40, and every five years
thereafter.† In order to ensure that an adopted person gains access to this
family history information, the State Registrar, upon receiving a request for
an uncertified, long-form copy of the original birth certificate, will provide
the requester with information regarding the birth parent's preference for
contact, as well as any family history information document that has been
submitted to the State Registrar by the birth parent, including any updated
information submitted.† The bill authorizes the State Registrar to establish a
system to inform authorized requesters in the event that new information is
added to an adopteeís certificate of birth file.†

††††† An adoptee who is 18 years of
age or older, upon submission of a written, notarized request to the adoption
agency or intermediary who facilitated the adoption, may obtain any available
medical or family history information concerning the adoptee, which is contained
in the person's adoption file.† If the requester is unable to obtain this information
because the agency or intermediary is unknown, the requester may petition the
court that granted the adoption to identify the agency or intermediary, if
possible. †As amended, the bill also authorizes an adoptee who was under the
custody of the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P) at the
time of adoption, to request from the director of DCP&P a statement, based
on DCP&P's case file, which summarizes the circumstances under which
parental rights for the child were terminated.

††††† The bill directs the State
Registrar, through the Department of Health (DOH), to prepare information
regarding counseling resources and the use of an intermediary for the purpose
of enabling an adoptee to make contact with a birth parent, and to make this
information available on the DOH website.† The registrar is also required to
provide this information to any person requesting the original long-form birth
certificate or a copy of the contact preference document.

††††† As specified in the amended
bill, rules and regulations implementing the billís provisions are to be
adopted by the Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the Commissioner of
Children and Families, and the rulemaking process may be expedited through the
immediate adoption of emergency regulations upon their filing with the Office
of Administrative Law.†

††††† Within two years after the
billís enactment, the Commissioner of Health and Commissioner of Children and
Families must submit a report to the Legislature and the public on the
development and administration of these initiatives.† The report must include
statistical data identifying the number of birth certificates provided, the
number and type of contact preference documents submitted, and the number of
family history documents received.†

††††† DOH is required by the bill,
as amended, to contract with media outlets to produce and distribute national
public service messages designed to increase public awareness of, and encourage
participation in, the initiatives established under this bill.† DOH is
additionally required to provide public service message information on its
departmental website, as well as on the website that is operated by the State
of New Jersey.†

††††† This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the
2014-2015 session pending technical review.† As reported, the bill includes the
changes required by technical review, which has been performed.

††††† The committee amended the
bill to clarify that the existing law and the billís new provisions are equally
applicable to adoptees who are born in New Jersey, and adoptees who are born in
other states or foreign nations, so long as the State Registrar has received
certification of the adoption proceeding or associated judicial decree or
judgment.†